A packaging production line is intended for the manufacture of folding boxes which will form the packaging after being folded and glued in a folding-gluing machine. Elements which are initially in plate form, such as cardboard sheets, for example made of corrugated cardboard, have very often been previously printed on by a printing machine so as to ensure the attractive appearance of the final packaging.
A conversion unit such as a cutting unit, for example a platen cutting press, is installed downstream of the printing machine. The plate-like elements are introduced via a feeding station mounted upstream of the cutting unit. After cutting and stripping the wastes, the boxes obtained are ready for use and emerge in the form of stacks or batches. Said batches are collected at the outlet of the unit in a delivery station installed downstream.
According to the dimensions of the desired boxes, the plate-like elements may leave the cutter in the form of blanks. The blanks are composed of several juxtaposed boxes, attached together by nicks. The nicks connect two edges of a cutting line between two boxes and constitute bridges of the same material as the boxes and the blanks. The blanks are then introduced into a separating unit or breaker, for example similar to that disclosed in the document EP 1,369,213, breaking the nicks, so as to obtain the separate boxes. After separation, the boxes which have been obtained are ready for use and emerge in the form of juxtaposed batches. Said batches are collected at the outlet of the separator in the delivery station provided downstream.